ED searches Tejashwi’s Delhi house, other locations linked to Lalu family

The premises of former RJD MLA Abu Dojana were also searched. Sources said cash and property documents were recovered from the former MLA’s house.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. (File Photo | PTI)
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. (File Photo | PTI)

NEW DELHI/PATNA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted searches in multiple cities of Bihar, Delhi NCR, Mumbai and other locations associated with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav as part of its probe into the money laundering angle in the land for jobs scam.

The searches were conducted at Lalu Prasad’s son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav’s Friends Colony residence in New Delhi, besides the premises of his daughters Ragini Yadav, Chanda Yadav and Hema Yadav. 

Tejashwi was present at his Friends Colony residence when the ED sleuths knocked at the door. He had gone to New Delhi soon after Lalu was questioned by the CBI on March 7. The premises of former RJD MLA Abu Dojana were also searched. Sources said cash and property documents were recovered from the former MLA’s house. Dojana is a close associate of Lalu and his company, Meridian Construction India Limited, was constructing a mall belonging to Lalu and his family. The ED seized the mall in 2018. 

The searches come close on the heels of the questioning of Lalu Prasad and his wife, former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, by the CBI in Patna and New Delhi.  The ED’s action is a follow-up of the investigation by the CBI on the acquisition of illegal assets by the Yadav family using the proceeds from the land for jobs scam. The CBI had filed a chargesheet in the matter in October last year. Further investigations are on. 

According to ED sources, the federal agency raided 24 locations in Bihar, Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Haryana associated with Lalu Yadav, his relatives and close associates for possessing assets disproportionate to known sources of income.

In October last year, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and 14 others in connection with the land-for-jobs scam case. The alleged scam took place when Lalu Prasad was the Union railway minister in the UPA-1 government during 2004-2009. 

Land-for-jobs scam
Several persons allegedly gifted or sold their land at huge discount to the Lalu family in exchange for railway jobs. They were allegedly appointed as substitutes in group D positions and were later regularised

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